— … I do.
—You believe me?
—I do.
—You believe me!
— …
—You won’t stop, will you? Just tell me!
—I will not stop.
—Why?
—So there can be no doubt. So that I do not have to do this to anyone else.
— …
—Gentlemen, the left ring finger.
—MY NAME IS JACOB LAWSON! I’M A BRITISH CITIZEN! UNDER THE VIENNA … AAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!
FILE NO. 1585
COCKPIT VOICE RECORDING—US AIR FORCE B-2 SPIRIT—NATO DEPLOYMENT
Location: Somewhere over Portugal
09:15:31 [HAMAL 11]
Anderson House, this is Chris Parker, approaching Spanish airspace. Speed is 560 mph. Altitude: thirty thousand feet.
09:15:40 [AIRCOM]
Thank you, Chris Parker. Begin final checklist.
09:15:45 [HAMAL 11]
Roger that.
…
09:18:03 [HAMAL 11]
Checklist complete. We are ready for bed.
09:18:10 [AIRCOM]
Roger, Chris Parker. Thirty seconds to bedtime.
09:18:14 [HAMAL 11]
Anderson House, are we really doing this?
09:18:17 [AIRCOM]
Affirmative, Chris Parker. Bedtime is a go. I repeat: Bedtime is a go.
Twenty seconds.
09:18:24 [HAMAL 11]
Anderson House. This is Chris Parker requesting you reconfirm with Mother.
09:18:28 [AIRCOM]
You have your orders, Chris Parker. Ten seconds till bedtime.
09:18:31 [HAMAL 11]
Anderson House. I’m gonna have to ask again for a reconfirm.
09:18:33 [AIRCOM]
Mother is here, Chris Parker. Bedtime is a go. In five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now. Now. Now.
Chris Parker, this is Anderson House. You have missed the drop zone.
…
Chris Parker, this is Anderson House. Please respond.
09:18:57 [HAMAL 11]
Roger Anderson House. We’re having some … technical problems with the drop hatch.
09:19:09 [AIRCOM]
Chris Parker, I understand. No one here is thrilled either but we have a job to do. Change heading to two seven zero for another pass.
…
That’s an order, Chris Parker, not a suggestion.
…
Chris Parker, respond.
09:19:31 [HAMAL 11]
Roger, Anderson House. Heading two seven zero now.
09:19:35 [AIRCOM]
Roger that. Stay on course.
…
Chris Parker, bedtime is in five. Four. Three. Two. One. Now. Now. Now.
09:20:10 [HAMAL 11]
Anderson House, this is Chris Parker. The kids are asleep.
Holy sh …
09:20:22 [AIRCOM]
Chris Parker, this is Anderson House, say that again.
Chris Parker, what’s your status?
We lost you on radar, Chris Parker, please respond.
Chris Parker, please respond.
…
FILE NO. 1587
INTERVIEW WITH DR. ROSE FRANKLIN, HEAD OF SCIENCE DIVISION, EARTH DEFENSE CORPS
Location: EDC Headquarters, New York, NY
—The aliens just destroyed Madrid.
—They did not, Dr. Franklin. They did not.
—Look! There’s nothing left. Absolutely nothing.
—I am well aware that Madrid has been removed from the face of the Earth. I was merely stating that the aliens are not to blame. We did this to ourselves.
—What do you mean? Did we bomb Madrid?
—We did more than bomb it. Approximately twenty minutes ago, an American B-2 Spirit dropped a B83 thermonuclear gravity bomb with a yield of 1.2 megatons on the capital of Spain. There was no visible explosion, no mushroom cloud. Only an electromagnetic pulse that knocked down nearly every electronic device in Spain, and a bright white light, approximately thirty-two miles across, that covered the entire city for about three seconds. When the light disappeared, there was nothing left. Only a large robotic figure standing at the bottom of the largest hole anyone has ever seen.
—I don’t believe it … On the news, they said the alien robot attacked, just like in London.
—What did you expect them to say? That the democratically elected government of Spain asked the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to drop a nuclear warhead on a city of six million people?
—How many people were they able to evacuate before they dropped the bomb?
—There was no evacuation, no advance warning. They wanted to be absolutely certain that they would hit their target. They did.
—Did you do this?
—I had nothing to do with it. I tried to stop them, but I have to come to terms with the fact that the scope of this crisis dwarfs any influence I might have had in the past. I have felt my … grip on the world loosen these past few years, but it is possible that I have finally outlived my usefulness completely.
—That’s not true. These are just … unusual circumstances.
—I fear there may not be many usual circumstances left in our future.
—Maybe not.
—Dr. Franklin, I feel it is my responsibility to keep everyone around me focused on their task, no matter the outside circumstances, and the last thing I want is to be a burden on anyone, or for my personal feelings to ever get in the way of our moving forward, but at this very moment … Why are you laughing?
—You want a pep talk from me?
—I would ask Alyssa if she were here—
—You made a joke! Where is she, by the way?
—I sent her to London to examine more of the survivors.
—What happened to the ones that were here?
—On the plane with Alyssa. I saw no need to keep them here any further.
—All of them?
—All but one. Mr. Lawson, unfortunately, did not make it.
—The journalist? What happened to him?
—He had a heart attack.
—When? How?
—He had a heart condition I was not aware of. He collapsed during his interrogation and we could not reanimate him.
—His interro … You had him tortured?
—It is, as most things are, a matter of … Yes. I had him tortured.
—Why?
—I thought he might know something. He did not.
—And he died.
—That he did.
—I don’t know how to respond. Do you want me to say it wasn’t your fault?
—No. I bear complete responsibility for his death. I should have obtained his medical records before debriefing him. I was careless.
—What bothers you
is not that you tortured a man but that you forgot to ask for his medical records?
—Do not judge me too harshly, Dr. Franklin. Goodwilled, intelligent people just dropped a nuclear bomb on their own people. The United States Government gunned down over six hundred people at the Mexican border less than twelve hours ago. Those were unarmed men, women, and children, families seeking refuge.
—Is that what we’ve become?
—I have asked myself that question many times. The person who offered to meet you—the one who may be of alien descent—mentioned once that if we did not seem responsible enough, the people who built Themis might choose to send us back to the Stone Age and let us mature for a few millennia. I believe those were his exact words. I sometimes wonder if that might be exactly what we need.
—A fresh start.
—A fresh start.
—I should be appalled that you tortured a man. I’m not. I think I’m becoming as cynical as you are.
—I am not cynical, but we are indeed very different creatures.
—We’re not so different.
—Oh, but we are. No matter how much you believe you have changed, we are still very different animals, you and I.
—I think you’re wrong.
—Let me ask you this: Do you believe the American government lied to the people about weapons of mass destruction before invading Iraq?
—What’s this got to do with anything?
—Just answer the question.
—Yes. I do.
—Do you believe that was wrong?
—What do you mean? Of course that was wrong!
—Why?
— …
—Because lying is bad?
—Something like that.
—You see, I believe that the invasion of Iraq was a mistake but for completely different reasons. At the time, the people in power believed—some of them did—that a strong military presence in the Middle East was crucial to the preservation of our way of life. They believed that the very survival of democracy, freedom of speech, everything we hold dear, hinged on our military presence in the Middle East. Imagine for a second that you also believed that to be true. Let us make this easier, imagine that through some unexplained magical phenomenon, you actually knew it to be true. Would you have lied to the American people if it increased your chances of establishing that vital military presence?
—No. I wouldn’t have.
—And therein lies the fundamental difference between us. You would not sacrifice your principles for a greater good. I would not stop to think about it. I am … pragmatic, and you, Dr. Franklin, are an idealist.
—Is that such a bad thing?
—Not at all. What would people like me do without ideals to defend?
—I think you’re having a crisis of conscience because you’ve crossed one line too many and you’re trying to rationalize everything that brought you here. You did what you did because you thought it was right.
—I did what I did because I thought there was a small chance it might save people. I never thought for a second that it was right.
—So what’s next? I take it Mr. Lawson didn’t spill the beans about the great alien master plan.
—He did not. However, I still find it likely that his immunity to the alien gaseous agent was due to genetic traits he inherited from ancient alien visitors, but I can now say with a good measure of certainty that, if Homo sapiens were not the only species in his ancestry, he was completely unaware of it.
—For what it’s worth, I think you’re probably right. It would make sense for them to spare people they feel related to. What does Alyssa have to say?
—She has found nothing conclusive as of yet, but she is working around the clock. I must say, I have rarely seen anyone so enthusiastic, about anything. If she fails, it will certainly not be for lack of trying.
—She is dedicated. I’ll say that about the woman.
— …
—What is it?
—An alien robot materialized at the north end of Central Park.
—Here?
—I am afraid so. Can you turn on the television?
—There. It’s already releasing gas.
—How long before it reaches us?
—What do we do?
—Dr. Franklin, how long?
—At twenty-five miles per hour, I’d say … five minutes, maybe less.
—We need to get Themis to safety. We cannot risk the alien robot destroying her after we evacuate.
—I’ll call Vincent. He’s probably still in the hangar bay.
—Very well. I will direct everyone here to the helipad.
—Don’t! Eugene took the helicopter to Washington this morning. Get them to UN Headquarters. The gas shouldn’t reach above the twentieth floor.
Vincent? It’s Rose. We have an alien robot in New York, about two miles from here … Yes, Vincent. It’s already releasing gas so we don’t have much time. Grab whatever you can and get Themis away from here … I don’t know, somewhere safe. Anywhere but here. Yes, I know. I’m sending everyone there … Thank you, Vincent. Good luck to you too.
Intercom … Where’s that button? There. Attention. This is Dr. Rose Franklin. If anyone is in the building, you must evacuate immediately. The city is under attack and a deadly gas will reach this facility within a few minutes. Make your way to the main UN building and get to one of the top floors. This is not a drill. I repeat. You must evacuate this building and find shelter above the twentieth floor in the main building. Again, this is—
—That is enough, Dr. Franklin. We must go, now.
—You’re still here! I thought you were seeing everyone out.
—I was. Now they are out. It would be ungentlemanly for me to leave without you, Dr. Franklin.
—You should go, I’ll catch up.
—What are you doing?
—I can’t leave my notes behind.
—The computer files are saved every night.
—I know. I write everything down in notepads.
—Why would you do that?
—So you don’t read everything I put in there.
—I hope I remember to be offended if we live through this. Why are you stopping?
— …
—Dr. Franklin, why are you looking at me that way?
—I don’t think we have enough time.
—Unless you can present me with an alternate course of action, it would seem preferable to “chance it” than to simply sit here and wait for what you described as a very unpleasant experience.
—The clean room. It’s glass-enclosed.
—Are you confident it will isolate us from the gas?
—I don’t know. It’s rated for biosafety level 3—
—Are you certain we cannot reach the main building in time?
—Pretty sure.
—Then to the clean room we go.
—Follow me … In here. Once both doors are sealed, nothing should get in or out. The gas will have to go through the glass walls to get to us.
—Is there not a ventilation system?
—I shut it down. We’ll run out of breathable air after a few hours, but that should be long enough for the gas to dissipate.
—Carbon dioxide poisoning seems preferable to what the alien agent will do to us.
—Don’t you have anything nice to say?
—You and I have read the same reports, you have talked to the survivors. They tried to do exactly what we are doing now, and they could not escape the gas. Besides, there are at least half a dozen doors between here and the outside world. If the gas reaches this far, I fail to see how one layer of glass will make a difference. What is so special about it?
—It’s thick. It’s … I have no idea, but you can let loose a deadly airborne diseas
e in there and it’ll contain it. It has to work.
—I am happy to see you have a newfound will to live.
—Like you said, it’s a bad way to go … Not like that. I’d also like to talk to that friend of yours.
—I can call him now if you wish.
—Why don’t we wait until this is over? I hope my staff made it to UN Headquarters.
—They are young. They can run the whole way. I believe they will make it.
—I hope they made it two minutes ago. Look at the main door.
—It is also coming in through the walls.
—It won’t be long before it fills the lab completely.
—I hope this glass will be more efficient than the laboratory walls.
—It’s very expensive glass—
—Let us hope our tax dollars have been wisely spent. I would hate for us to perish because someone saved a few pennies on substandard materials.
—We’ll know soon enough, there’s gas all around us now … See! I told you we’d be safe in here.
—Look down, Dr. Franklin.
—No! It’s seeping in through the floor!
—And now through the glass.
—No it’s not!
—Look closer.
—How does it … ? I thought—
—It was a good idea Dr. Franklin. Come sit with me.
—It’s coming in slowly.
—Indeed, this glass is slowing down the gas considerably. It was well worth the price you paid.
—I mean it’s really slow! We might have enough time. It takes—
—Dr. Franklin, it takes hours for the gas to dissipate. Even at this rate, we might have … ten, twenty minutes before it fills this room.
—Maybe if I turn on the ventilation—
—Dr. Franklin—
—There’s got to be—
—Dr. Franklin!
—I don’t wanna die!